Pilot Parade: J.K. Simmons Joins Comedy & Bloodline Signs Lead

First up, according to The Hollywood Reporter, J.K. Simmons has signed on as the father in the DJ Nash (Traffic Lights, Up All Night) pilot at NBC. The set-in-the-’80s semi-autobiographical series focuses on a son who holds his blind father up on a pedestal and gets a kick out of his mom’s new-found adolescence after the two divorce. Simmons plays a gruff John Wayne-esque character who doesn’t sound too far off from his performance as J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films.

Meanwhile, NBC landed a co-star for its pulpy action drama Bloodline, Deadline reports. KaDee Strickland, whose Private Practice just wrapped up recently, has signed on to play opposite Skyler Samuels. The plot revolves around Bird Benson (Samuels) realizing that her family is actually part of an ages-old battle between a pair of warrior tribes set in the suburbs. Strickland plays Samuels’ mother who has been trained in the ancient arts of her people, a group of assassins and mercenaries.

Finally, ABC’s Spy searched out and found its kid star. Deadline reports that Mason Cook, who played Eddie Munster in the Mockingbird Lane pilot/Halloween special, signed on to as the show’s boy genius whose dad accidentally joins the Secret Service. The U.S. adaptation of Simeon Goulden’s U.K. series was ordered to pilot at the end of January and soon after announced that Rob Corddry would star as the father.